Music-sheet



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.l

GEORGE B. KELLY,.IOF JAMAICA PLAIN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIAN COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

MUSIC-SHEET.

Patented July 1, 191.9.

' Application `filed May 13, 1915. Serial No. 27,852.

T0 all whom it may concern y Be it known that I, GEORGE B. KELLY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jamaica Plain, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music- Sheets, of whichthe following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in music sheets adapted to be played in unison in automatic instruments such as pianos, organs and the like. Where it 1s sought in such instruments t0 render many musical parts, it would, of course, be desirable to provide all of said parts in a single perforated music-sheet or roll but this means that said music sheet would have to be very wide, which ordinarily is not feasible due to the swell and shrink of the sheet throwing its perforations out of registry with the tracker barrducts. It is therefore ordinarily necessary to render such com- -positions in two companion sheets or rolls which are then driven synchronously by suitable means over the tracker -board. Here, however, the difficulty has been to keep the sheets in synchronism. I have discovered, however, that a large part of this difficulty has been due to the fact that the companion sheets were not made simultaneously from the same strip of paper and this discovery led to my present invention, the advantages of which will be apparent to those skilled in the art from anunderstanding of the following description in connection with the drawing showing a pair of music sheets within my invention. Both of these sheets 1 and 2 were made from a single strip of paper, of which it will be seen that they are side by side components. This is important in companion or duet sheets intended to be played synchronously because being components and especially 'side by side components of the same strip of paper each will be affected practically to the same extent and at the same place as the other in swell and shrink due to changes in moisture conditions.

1a and 2a are note perforations in the respective sheets so that when the two sheets are layedtogether they will reproduce the com ined parts of the musical composition.

These perforations should be cut simultaneously from a master or stencil sheet in a music perforating machine, preferably beforethesheets 1 and 2 are separated bythe slitB. In practice a slitting knife or' a punch forming part of tlie'perforating machine will divide the original single perforated sheet into its components 1 and 2 immediately after each part of its length is perforated. The purpose of perforatin-g the sheets 1 and 2 at the same time is so that they will both be expanded or contracted to the same extent when the perforations are made in them that later must synchronize as the sheets travel over the tracker-bar. This means that the distance between companion perforations will always remain the same in one sheet as in the other regardless of moisture conditions, because whether said distance increases or decreases, either lengthwise or crosswise of the sheet, said companion perforations will still remain in synchronism because the variations whatever they are, will under the circumstances be substantially uniform in the two sheets. In short, since said perforations were cut when the two sheets were in the same hygroscopic condition, it follows that they will always remain thereafter at synchronous distances apart.

This will be especially true when the sheets perforated at or about the same time as aforesaid were originally components, especially side by side components, of one and the same strip of paper. Further it is to be assumed that the companion rolls will be kept together after they have been made, so that they will always be subject to the same hygroscopic conditions. For instance they may be contained side by side in the same music roll box; or wound side by side on the same music-roll spool.

1b and 2b are lines of sprocket perforations in the respective sheets cut in like the other perforations 1a and 2a simultaneously with each other. These are intended to engage with the teeth of sprocket wheels which by turning in synchronism, thereby control the sheets and keep them traveling in synchronism once they have been started in synchron'ism. The referred to mechanism forms part of the subject matter of Letters Patent No. 1,277,944, granted to me September 3, 1918.

The front ends of the sheets 1 and 2 may be finished in the usual or any preferred Of course some changes and modifications might be made in the above that are nevertheless Within the Spirit of this inventive disclosure and these I mean to cover by the annexed claim under the doctrine of equivalents. Further certain of the steps or means might be used Without the remainder or in connection with equivalent means.

IVhat I claim is Companion music rolls composed of individual strips made from side-by-Side components of the same sheet of paper, the respective rolls containing note perforations corresponding to and adapted to pla-y the complementary parts of a musical composition, the respective rolls also containing perforations to coperate with synchronizing means in the instrument in Which the rolls are played and to thus synchronize the movements of the rolls While being played, the note and synchronizing perforations of each roll being so related to such perforations of the other roll that the rolls will play their respective complements of the musical composition in unison.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this 11th day of May 1915.

GEORGE B. KELLY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

